This memo is intended to serve as the initial charge letter to the Graduate
Council for the 2005-06 academic year. As the convener of the Graduate
Council it is your responsibility to arrange as soon as feasible an
organizational meeting, the primary purpose of which is to elect a chairperson
and a secretary. Please share this memo with the committee members either
at the organizational meeting or, if you prefer, prior to that meeting.

Primary responsibilities of the chairperson include:

opromptly informing the Senate office (5-8018) the results of the
election of officers and any changes in committee membership.*

oorganizing and conducting meetings.

ocompleting a year end report on the Graduate Council activities to
be submitted to the Senate Office no later than May 31, 2006.

*The committee chairperson should carefully review the policies on committee
attendance and the role of alternates on pgs. 10-11, of the 8-27-01 Articles &
By-laws materials distributed by Jennifer Wilson's office.

Primary responsibilities of the secretary include:

orecording minutes of each meeting.

osending meeting minutes to Sibbie Weathers (weathers.sylv@uwlax.edu)
so that the minutes can be posted on the faculty senate website.

In the event the committee chooses to rotate secretarial duties, please
designate one person to be responsible for e-mailing the meeting minutes to
Sibbie Weathers. Sibbie has already created an e-mail distribution list of
committee members which includes Sibbie to facilitate communication with faculty
senate.

Determining the procedures and criteria for selecting members of the
graduate faculty and annually approving an updated roster of members of the
graduate faculty.

Formulating procedures for hearing graduate student appeals and
petitions on academic policy matters not resolved by administrative offices
of the university.

Studying long-range issues related to any aspect of graduate studies
and recommending how and by whom these issues should be addressed.

Membership of the committee shall consist of nine graduate faculty.
The faculty membership shall include at least one representative from each of
the following academic units: the College of Science and Allied Health,
the College of Business Administration, and the College of Education, Exercise
Science, Health and Recreation. At least one representative from each
college shall be either a graduate program director (having no additional
administrative responsibilities) or a member of a department participating in a
graduate program. In addition, the director of university graduate studies, the
chair of the graduate curriculum committee, and two graduate students shall
serve as members. The academic deans or their designated appointees, and the
registrar shall serve as administrative consultants to the committee. The
committee shall elect its chairperson. The director of university graduate
studies shall serve as convener.

In addition to the committee’s normal duties, I ask that the committee
consider and report on the following special charges:

·Review and report to Senate no later than October 13, 2005
on the proposed affiliation of CSDA with the Psychology Department.

·Review and report to Senate no later than January 26, 2006
on the Learning Communities.

·Report on graduate student recruitment efforts and support
relative to Plan 2008 no later than.

·Report on problems faced by graduate students (for example,
housing, financial support, and work life issues), compare the situation at
UW-La Crosse with situations at like institutions, and recommend ways to address
problems as necessary.

Please plan to submit a report to faculty senate on the final two charges no
later than April 6, 2006.

If you have questions or concerns regarding these charges, please contact me
at any time during the year. Finally, if the Senate Executive Committee or
I can assist your committee in any way during the year, please do not hesitate
to ask.